Ohio-class

Ohio-class submarines are the only operational ballistic missile submarines (SSBN) in the U.S. Navy. Four, including the lead ship, USS Ohio (SSGN-726), have been converted to SSGN's, or submarines that can launch a large number of cruise missiles and also be the mother ship for naval special operations forces, typically United States Navy SEALs.

They are named for states of the United States, which were the traditional names for battleships when the battleship was the most important ship type in the Navy.

SSBN

Ballistic missile variants carry the UGM-133 Trident D5. These missiles are as or more accurate than land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles. While SLBMs traditionally had been seen as survivable second-strike deterrence weapons, the range and accuracy of the missiles gives them first-strike capability. Still, they are seen as more stabilizing that ICBMs, since they are essentially invulnerable. ICBMs, in fixed locations, challenge their commanders to "use them or lose them."

There has been experimentation with a non-nuclear version of the Trident, launched at minimum range at critical targets such as weapons of mass destruction and command centers. The speed of an incoming Trident warhead is such that its kinetic energy, filled with concrete or metal rods, is greater than any possible explosive. Concerns over such weapons, however, come from countries that could detect a launch, principally Russia, but not be able to tell if the payload is nuclear or not.

General characteristics

• Builder: General Dynamics Electric Boat Division.
• Date Deployed: Nov. 11, 1981 (USS Ohio)
• Propulsion: One nuclear reactor, one shaft.
• Length: 560 feet (170.69 meters).
• Beam: 42 feet (12.8 meters).
• Displacement: 16,764 tons (17,033.03 metric tons) surfaced; 18,750 tons (19,000.1 metric tons) submerged.
• Speed: 20+ knots (23+ miles per hour, 36.8+ kph).
• Crew: 15 Officers, 140 Enlisted.
• Armament: 24 tubes for Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles, MK48 torpedoes, four torpedo tubes.